They weren't camped out in the slough, but Hawkins and von Maguns have been shuffling from one location to another since March 2013.

They've lived in Red Bluff and Redding, Sonora and Reno.

Their homelessness isn't so easily defined by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The Tehama County Department of Education has a broader description and maintains a database of school children that includes those in foster care, so called "couch surfers," migrant workers and those attending classes by day and returning to a household at night that doesn't include either of their parents.

When those figures are looked at Hawkins and von Magnus' story becomes a far too common occurrence in Tehama County.

Foster and Homeless Youth Coordinator Jo Kee says there are about 1,000 kids defined as homeless by the Tehama County Department of Education.

That's about 10 percent of all school children in the county.

Finding each other

Hawkins and von Magnus met each other in April 2012.

They were both recovering from rough breakups, but as life would have it, it was love at first sight.

Life then provided another surprise.

In September 2012 von Magnus found out she was pregnant.

She chose to keep the baby.

"I chose to face the consequences, whether they were good or bad," von Magnus said.

According to the California Department of Public Health, Tehama County's teen pregnancy rate is higher than the state average with 36 out of every 1,000 females ages 15 to 19 becoming pregnant.

Hawkins and von Magnus were used to dealing with difficult situations.

Hawkins had spent time in the foster program and von Magnus estimates that during her 12 years of school she was homeless for about five.

As it would turn out the pregnancy would be the least of the teenage couple's concerns.

The couple had planned to start their new life as parents living with Hawkins' father.

Hawkins, who was attending Red Bluff Union High School at the time, was proactive and contacted Cal-Safe, a school-based program for expectant and parenting students and their children.

He asked questions about the best way he could juggle getting a job to support his girlfriend and future baby as well as completing high school.

Hawkins eventually settled on the eScholar Academy, the Internet-based charter school von Magnus had been attending. The school was renamed the Tehama eLearning Academy at the start of the month.

The couple had a plan in place.

Best laid plans

In March 2013 Hawkins' father lost his home.

While the father found a place to stay in Redding, Hawkins and von Maguns were on their own.

They began couch surfing, staying in different homes, shuffling back and forth between Red Bluff and Redding.

Some situations were better than others, but it was what they had.

"There was times we didn't have enough to eat, but we always managed," von Magnus said.

By May they were staying at the Crystal Motel in Red Bluff.

A few weeks later von Magnus went to St. Elizabeth Community Hospital for what turned out to be an extended stay to deliver their son, Dimitri.

Meanwhile Hawkins was having trouble finding work.

Finding a job in Tehama County, where the unemployment rate has been in double-digits since the recession, is hard enough.

It's a lot tougher when you're a 16-year-old.

Hawkins said from talking to people who were also trying to get temporary work, he realized he would need to move his new family elsewhere if they were going to have any chance of starting their life over.

Hawkins connected with a woman in Reno, who offered a room for the couple and their infant son.

They somehow managed to find a ride from Red Bluff and packed up the belongings they had and left to start anew.

To say it didn't work out would be an understatement.

Hawkins and von Magnus arrived at the home to find the woman who had invited them to live there was out of town.

They were allowed to stay, but certainly weren't made welcome.

Eventually the couple and their baby were made to stay in a living room without heat.

Still, Hawkins found work and the couple was starting to get their life together.

It wouldn't last, as tension began to rise in the cramped two-bedroom apartment that housed 10 people. Hawkins said he believed it would eventually get physical.

That's when they finally got a break.

Distant relative

Hawkins great-uncle, whom he had met briefly as a child, reached out to him on Facebook.

He said he had been following Hawkins' postings in the past year and wanted to help.

He offered to take in Hawkins, von Magnus and the baby in his home in Antelope.

Finally, a stable environment.

The point of eScholar Academy is to allow students to complete their coursework anywhere there is an Internet connection.

For Hawkins and von Magnus who were living in multiple places in the past year it proved to be the only way they could have ever gotten their high school diplomas.

Still it wasn't easy. They logged in wherever they could, from coffee shops, at whatever cheap motel they were staying at.

By the time they got relocated to Antelope Hawkins found he had a massive undertaking before him if he was going to graduate in June.

He was hundreds of hours away from completing his requirements.

Hawkins was determined to get the work done, though.

"It's not me who depends on the diploma, it's my son," Hawkins said.

Coffee pot after coffee pot Hawkins put in well over 40 hours a week throughout May, he said.

But it was all worth it.

"It's a broader horizon if you have that ticket," Hawkins said of a high school diploma.

Hawkins and von Magnus returned to Red Bluff to complete their senior projects and then take part in eScholar Academy's graduation ceremonies March 31 at the State Theatre.

Little Dimitri was there as well, too young to understand what his parents had accomplished.

It wasn't lost on the staff at the school.

Bob Springer, a teacher, said what Hawkins and von Magnus did in the past year was bust down stereotypes from being teen parents to being homeless.

"No matter what you go through you have to be patient. It's only going to get better if you work," Hawkins said.

Hawkins, who was still weeks away from his 18th birthday, said he had a job lined up as a custodian for a property management firm after graduation.

Von Magnus said she was going to take care of Dimitri, but was considering attending beauty school.

She eventually wants to attend college and pursue an occupation that gives back to those who are in situations like the one she found herself in.

Hawkins said he wanted to share his story, with all the pitfalls, for other students going through tough times to read and show them it can be worth it to complete their studies.

"I want them to know no matter what struggle they go through, completion is possible," he said.

Von Magnus said she wants others to know they're not alone.

"The loneliness can be very hard," she said.

The students aren't alone, there are 998 more out there.

Homeless Student Project

About a month ago Daily News Editor Chip Thompson returned from a presentation and startled me with a fact he had learned.

Tehama County Department of Education Foster and Homeless Youth Coordinator Jo Kee had told a group that about 10 percent of all students in the county are defined as homeless. That accounts for about 1,000 children.

I was shocked.

Around the same time I received a call from eScholar Academy teacher Bob Springer.

Springer said he knew two students graduating in a few weeks who had overcome considerable odds to get there.

They had been homeless this past year.

I had all the makings of a good story — a serious problem with statistics to back it up and faces to put with it so readers would pay attention.

As I spoke with Kee myself it became obvious that I was going to be working on much more than a story, it's a project.

That's why I'm introducing the Homeless Student Project.

In the coming weeks I hope to tell the stories of those affected, examine what's being done to help them and explore future ideas for solutions.

This will require a collaborative effort from the community.

I'm reaching out to educators, social workers and those who are going through problems to share your stories, experiences and knowledge.

Our first article tells the story of the two students Springer introduced me to.

It would be easy to stereotype them as just another set of teen parents, just as it would to turn a blind eye to the hundreds of children who have to go through school without parental guidance or a permanent sleeping situation.

However Alexander and Brianna should not be stereotyped.

As Brianna told me it's not about how old someone is physically, it's how ready they are to mature.

What they have gone through would mature anyone beyond their years.

She also told me she would hate to have gone through all her rough experiences in vain.

Brianna and Alexander wanted their story told, because they wanted to reach out to the other homeless students.

I'm hoping there are others out there who will, either because they know first hand or are just as shocked when seeing the figures as I was.